U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu make joint statements to the press in occupied al-Quds, January 16, 2025. (Photo by Reuters)
East Jerusalem, February 17 (RHC)-- Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel and U.S. President Donald Trump have a “common strategy” on Gaza’s future after he met Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the occupied al-Quds.
Rubio met with Netanyahu on Sunday in the occupied territories where he highlighted Trump’s controversial proposal to take control of the besieged Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu, who recently visited Washington, expressed his appreciation for the US president’s “full support” for Israel’s next moves in Gaza. “We discussed Trump’s bold vision for Gaza’s future and will work to ensure that vision becomes a reality,” Netanyahu told reporters after the meeting, adding that the two sides had a “common strategy” for the future of the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The Trump administration has warned of repercussions for Egypt and Jordan if they do not allow in the more than two million Palestinians in Gaza. Washington has expressed openness to alternative proposals from Arab governments but has stressed that currently, “the only plan is Trump’s.”
“Right now the only plan — they don’t like it — but the only plan is the Trump plan. So if they’ve got a better plan, now’s the time to present it,” Rubio said on Thursday.
“Israel will now have to decide what they will do,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Saturday. “The United States will back the decision they make!” he added.
Trump sparked a global outcry with his proposal for the United States to take over the Gaza Strip and to move more than two million Palestinians out of the territory, citing Egypt or Jordan as possible destinations.
Legal experts say the Trump's vicious scheme to takeover Gaza would violate international law, amounting to ethnic cleansing.
Meanwhile, Netanyahu has suggested Saudi Arabia could also host Palestinians. That statement from the Israeli prime minister was the spark that set off anger from the Arab world, including Saudi Arabia. Condemnations poured in, with Saudi Arabia suggesting its own Gaza plans as an alternative to Trump’s plans.
Saudi Arabia has announced that it will host an Arab Summit on Trump's Gaza Plan. The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will attend the summit, which will take place ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo on February 27th on the same issue.
An extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) foreign ministers will be held in the coming weeks at Iran’s request as well, all to offer another viable option for Palestinians than the Trump displacement plan.
Rubio arrived in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories hours after Israel’s war ministry in a statement confirmed that a shipment of “heavy” U.S.-made bombs arrived overnight in Israel.
“A shipment of heavy aerial bombs recently released by the US government was received and unloaded overnight in Israel,” the ministry said in a statement, referring to MK-84 munitions recently authorized by Trump’s administration.
The MK-84 is an unguided 2,000-pound bomb, which can rip through thick concrete and metal, creating a wide blast radius.
During the 15 months of the U.S.-Israeli regime’s genocidal war against the people of Gaza that began in October 2023, over 48,000 Palestinians were killed, most of them children and women.
Amid severe shortages of essential resources such as food, water, and medical supplies due to deliberate restrictions, the Israeli war on Gaza has forcibly displaced almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents.
New research shows that the United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began.
On January 15th, the Israeli regime, having failed to achieve any of its war objectives including the “elimination” of Hamas or the release of captives, was forced to agree to a ceasefire deal with the Gaza-based resistance movement.
